Forestry Department has been committed to extend Tesso Nilo from 38,576 ha into 100,000 ha which has publicly been announced last August through the signing of agreement among Forestry Department, Provincial Government of Riau, and Pelalawan District Government on the park exptension and tackling encroachment in Tesso Nilo. A meeting with stakeholders to discuss the follow up of the agreement was conducted on October 30 in Pekanbaru. This meeting resulted on short term action plan and priority of activities that will be conducted during November and December for the preparation of the extension of Tesso Nilo National Park that will be declared in December.

About fifty representatives from related stakeholders ranging from forestry department provincial government, parliament, district government police, military, NGOs and community sat together to discuss actions plan for the preparation of Tesso Nilo National Park Expansion and tackle the encroachment inside the park and its proposed expansion area. The meeting was officially opened by Tengku Rasmara, the Assistant III Riau Governor on behalf of the Governor. In the speech read by the Assistant, the governor said that to implement the agreement that was signed on 28 August 2008 needs cooperation from all parties so that the conflict that may arise as the impact of the implementation of the agreement can be minimized and the encroachment in Tesso Nilo can be tackled properly.

Presentation from Directorate of Forest Investigation and Protection from the Forestry Department about managing encroachment inside conservation area marked the kick off of the meeting. Tackling encroachment that has conducted in Karang Gading Wildlife Sanctuary was presented by the conservation authority of North Sumatra as share learning session for the participants. The participants then were divided into three working groups to discuss three main issues; prevention and tackling encroachment in Tesso Nilo, accelerating Tesso Nilo National Park expansion and mitigation of human-elephant conflict.

The action plan that produced will be conducted in collaboration with the Provincial Team on Tackling Encroachment in Tesso Nilo and Accelerating Tesso Nilo Park Extension that was established by the provincial government through the Governor Decree on July 2007. The immediate step to be taken by the team during November-December is giving socialization on the planning of the park extension ranging from related government services into the villagers surrounding Tesso Nilo and the encroachers. This step will be followed with joint operation to safeguarding the park and its extension and law enforcement.

The meeting produced ten recommendations among others: acceleration of the process Tesso Nilo National Park extension that will be declared on December and field visit by the integrated team of Forestry Department to the field, preparing action against encroachment activity through socialization and law enforcement and etc.

to be followed up among others actions to mitigate human elephants conflict through the operation of Flying Squad, building canal combined with electric fence and scheme for insurance of human-wildlife conflict victim. To support this, it is recommended to set budget on the national annual budget and regional annual budget and raise fund through other unrestricted funding resources such as from private sector, NGOs and etc.